MARSHALL — Fatalities on Minnesota roads are up significantly from last year. Minnesota State Patrol District Investigator Kenny Willers says, “As of December 1st, we’ve had 424 fatalities on our roadways. One of the big things is this is 16% higher than last year. Unbelted fatalities are 39% more this year than they have been in the past.”
Willers noted unbelted motorists are especially a concern in southwest Minnesota, “Especially in southwest Minnesota we see a lower number of people wearing their seat belts and unfortunately that’s effecting them in their everyday driving when they crash.”
Willers has seen firsthand the life-saving effects of seat belts, “I’ve been to a lot of rollover crashes, especially on the interstate where you’re going 70, 80, 90 miles per hour, and those people still stay in the car and they walk out like nothing happened so those seat belts do help.”
The main factors in crashes turning fatal are speeding, not wearing seat belts, distracted driving, and driving while intoxicated.
If you get arrested for driving while intoxicated over the holiday, Willers reminds motorists, “One thing people don’t know is the judges don’t work on holidays, so if you get arrested the night before or that day, you’re going to spend Christmas or New Years in a jail cell. Plan those sober rides and have a plan ahead of time so you can spend that time with your family and friends.”
Law enforcement officials across the state are cracking down with extra DWI enforcement through the new year.
Roads can be particularly tricky this time of year and as the snow falls, rain turns to ice, and the wind begins to blow. Willers also provided some tips to motorists before venturing out for those longer car rides to locations for holiday events.
“Make sure you have warm stuff packed in your vehicle, have your phone charged, and a big thing is make sure there’s gas in your vehicle and make sure it’s full. We get a lot of people on these really bad, cold days and they only have a little bit of gas and they get stuck and there’s sometimes we can’t get out there for a couple of hours.”
